Pete Zegers wears a baseball cap, T-shirt and jeans. He drives a big work truck. His voice is low as he talks, with pride, not about his profession, but about his family. His son Dan stands nearby, dressed similarly, a warm and easy smile on his face. It occurs to an observer that these are salt-of-the-earth type folks, but it's hard to ignore the fact that they also are builders of architectural masterpieces.

"I specialize in foundations and framing and he's more of the artistic one," Dan said. "But we collaborate on every detail of a house."

As seasoned contractors who create custom-built homes, Pete is semi-retired, and Dan is owner of Daniel Zegers Construction. Working on many of Pete and Dan's projects is architect Brent Schneider. "When someone hires us, that's who they get every day — just us," Dan said. "When we build it, we put a lot of our soul into it. That's why we only do one project at a time."

The first "on spec" house they built together — "for fun," said Dan — was an esthetic success. The estate, dubbed Villa di Oro, is located in Thousand Oaks, on scenic, winding Rimrock Road, in an exclusive area that gives the illusion of being way out in the country, yet is located just a few blocks from busy, urbane Thousand Oaks Boulevard. Created in the style of an authentic Tuscan villa and situated on nearly 4 acres, this seven-bedroom, eight-bathroom estate has a main house, separate studio and a guest house, plus enough garage parking for seven vehicles.

Mature oak trees are accented by a massive wrought iron gate, while the Idaho quartz stone driveway sparkles in the sun. The golden glow is carried through to the richly-painted exterior, as well as to the elegant interior of the home, which radiates with natural light from numerous picture windows.

Real estate agent Sherri Sweeney of Prudential California Realty cannot speak more highly of the Zegerses and their artistry.

"You immediately get a feeling of warmth when you go inside the house," Sweeney said. "And that's because Pete and Dan put so much of themselves into what they do."

Sweeney was the listing agent for Villa di Oro, which recently sold to Eva and Mitch Katz. The Katzes and their three sons, Cory, 13, Jackson, 10, and Wyatt, 4, previously lived in a home of similar size, but with less acreage. While they loved their Spanish-style Mont Calabasas abode — which sold two weeks after its listing — they wanted a place with room for Eva's horse. The Tuscan-style Thousand Oaks home, with a total of 6,763 square feet, was not only spacious inside and out, but gorgeous, with panoramic views that stretch for miles.

"We looked at this house, and then our agent, Rudy C'Dealva, took us to see at least 20 others," Mitch said. "We kept coming back to this one, because we were in love with the views."

The interior also beckoned, with its golden Venetian plaster-finished walls, rustic light fixtures, hand-crafted cabinetry, open-beamed ceilings and distinctive masonry. The home's front doors are a dramatic combination of curved wrought iron and glass.

In the gourmet kitchen, the cabinets were crafted to resemble fine furniture. There's a large center island with stunning granite countertop, an enormous restaurant-sized pantry, and a mosaic fruit bowl design above the stove that evokes Old World Italy.

The graceful architecture includes extra-wide hallways and high, arched ceilings, along with many built-ins to accommodate books, sculptures or objets d'art. These touches can be found throughout, in the dining room, great room and outdoor living room.

The centerpiece of the home is the inner courtyard, which can be viewed from glass doors, with three sides of the house that wrap around in atrium style, featuring a cantera stone fountain and large quartz fireplace.

There's a downstairs office painted sage with cream colored moldings. Upstairs, the bedrooms accommodate every member of the family, and the large bathrooms feature a variety of materials including quartz, travertine and marble, and have extra-wide, intricate stone showers.

The studio is where Mitch is planning to create a guys' retreat, complete with pool table and pinball machine. Tucked behind one of the garages beneath the guest house, 10-year-old Jackson, the family musician, has a secluded room in which to practice for his future as a rock star.

The Katzes are in the process of adding furnishings, window treatments and other décor, such as a large, custom light fixture for the great room.

"We had it designed to look like a huge, dangling earring," Mitch said.

They've lived in the home a mere two months, but already are making plans for the stable and corral for Eva's horse, along with a vineyard and a swimming pool, but they want these additions to remain consistent with the home's Tuscan design.

"Dan and Pete built this house with exactly what we were looking for because they have a really strong eye for detail," Eva said. "We felt as if it was custom-built just for us."